


Rip Currents

by Danii_Girl



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: F/M, lifeguard AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 17:16:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4400474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danii_Girl/pseuds/Danii_Girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Y/N and Calum are both lifeguards at the beach for the summer</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rip Currents

Summer was meant to be spent out by the beach with friends. A time where the days were spent carving lines into the waves with surfboards and setting fire to marshmallows at night on the sand. At least that’s what Calum thought until all of his friends decided to get stupid summer jobs at the local mall. He couldn’t understand why anyone would want to spend the three months of freedom they were allotted tending to preteen girls in a stuffy store. Calum’s mom had been bothering him about gaining some responsibilities this summer though and with all his friends busy it only seemed fit for him to get himself a job. But Calum wasn’t going to take any ordinary mall job like his friends, no. There was no way he was going to miss out on his favorite time of the year. Instead, Calum found himself in a three week lifeguard training course before being handed his red shorts and assignment, Tower 11. 

Calum loved his new job. He was being payed to do what he had done countless of summers before, laying out on the beach and checking out all the beach bums (the bikini clad bums to be exact). Lucky for him, Tower 11 was the perfect spot for it.  Located right in the middle of the mile stretch of beach, everyone migrated towards the sand in front of him. It wasn’t like Calum liked to gloat or anything but he was pretty sure the rush of girls around his tower had nothing to do with the location. In fact, whenever he was on duty the positions of towels laid closer to the tower than the ocean. 

It was only a short time before he became the it lifeguard of the summer. The beach always crawling with girls during his shifts, which they had somehow committed to memory. Calum wasn’t complaining though. With his red shorts hanging loosely on his hips and a toothy smirk plaster on his face, he reminded the ladies in front of him to reapply their lotion. Being the kind person he was, he even offered to help. Resulting with his finger tips massaging the bare backs of the girls, never forgetting to slip them underneath the straps on their backs. “Wouldn’t want you to get sunburned now would we,” he winked at the blushing girls. To which they’d giggle and smile before rushing back to their towels to gossip about him. 

There was only one downside to Calum’s job and that was the lifeguard at Tower 12, Y/N. See, most of the lifeguards were much like Calum, using their new found power to attract the attention of the beach goers and flirt a little. Y/N on the other hand, well she was very serious about her job and making sure no one drowned. Tower 12 was always the first tower to report of an issue and wave the corresponding flag, a task she was very proud of. Had it not been for her careful eye, a three year old would have ventured to far into the waves and been scared for life.

Despite her seriousness about her job, Calum found Y/N quite cute. She was even kinda hot in the red one piece she was required to wear. In fact, he always caught himself staring off towards her tower when he should be watching the waters in front of him. But Calum wasn’t about to admit that out loud, especially not in front of the swell of girls lined up to have their sun tan lotion reapplied. And he definitely wasn’t going to admit it in front of his regular beach goers. 

“Hey Cal,” a perky blonde greeted. Calum quickly racked his brain to pin point the girls name before greeting her. “Can you help me again. I’d have my friends do it but they’re all in the water.” She handed the bottle of lotion to Calum before moving her hair to the side. 

“Are you still trying to get tanner?” Calum questioned, taking notice to the drop of protection number on the bottle of lotion. 

“Yeah! I’m hardly tan at all. I mean look how pale I am compared to you,” she said, stepping a way for a moment to place her hand on Calum’s bare stomach. 

“You just have to spend more time in the sun,” he winked. 

While Calum continued to flirt with the girl, Y/N was surveying the waters like her job entailed. Most days were pretty uneventful, leaving her hot and yearning for someone to fall so she could run to the ocean to cool off. From the looks of the families here today, she wasn’t going to get to touch the water until her shift was over. 

Y/N swore she only closed to her eyes for a moment but when she opened them chaos had ensued in front of her. The stretch of water in front of her tower seemed to be quite still in comparison to the waves breaking everywhere else. Y/N knew, from her lifeguard training and prior experience, that this meant a rip current was forming, and quickly. She quickly put the corresponding flag color up and alerted the beach goers in front of her. Everything seemed fine until she noticed the young girl floating away from the shore. She quickly grabbed her float before running out towards the water. 

“Hi sweetheart,” Y/N said, as she approached the frightful child. 

“Hi,” the girl said, her voice shaking as her arms continued to flail around. 

“I”m going to help you, okay? You have to do me a favor though and stay calm.” 

“I-I don’t think I can do that.” 

“Sure you can, just pretend you’re floating.” 

The girl obeyed, calming her arms and allowing the current to carry her body. With Y/N help, the girl was able to break free of the rip current and relax on the red floatation device. The young girl floated back to shore where she was greeted by her extremely nervous parents. With the girl back on land, Y/N decided to stay in the water a minute longer. 

“Calum!” the lifeguard of Tower 10 shouted. He was running straight for Calum who was still preoccupied with the girl from earlier. 

“What?” 

“Y/N went in the water to save this girl who was caught in a rip current. She stayed in the water after and now she’s caught in one.” 

Calum didn’t understand what he was hearing. Y/N helped a girl escape the ripe current and now she was stuck in one and couldn’t get out? Wasn’t she trained in the ways of getting out of one? And more importantly, why was this guy telling him about instead of helping her? Without thinking Calum ran straight for the water. 

“What are you doing?” Y/N gasped, trying desperately to break out of the current. 

“You have to swim parallel to the beach,” Calum shouted. 

“I”m a lifeguard I think I know what I’m supposed to do!” 

“Obviously not!” 

Y/N continued swimming parallel with the shore but without success. It was in that moment that Calum realized he had left his float back on shore. Cursing to himself, he swam closer to where she was. 

“You’re going to get caught too!” 

“No, I won’t. Roll on your back, I’m going to try and pull you out.” 

“That’s not going to work! The current is too strong.” 

“Just do it!” Calum shouted. 

Y/N quickly rolled over onto her back. Still parallel to the beach, she relaxed her arms and legs and allowed herself to float. The current continued to carry her farther out into the waters until she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her torso. With a few calculated tugs, Y/N was free from the current. Calum followed her back towards the beach where the both of them emerged out of breath and exhausted. The beach cheered when both of them assured everyone that they were okay. 

“I guess I should thank you for saving me,” Y/N said, as the two of them walked back towards their towers. 

“Why didn’t you swim back to shore with the girl you saved? I thought you followed all lifeguard rules.” 

“I just needed to cool down.” 

“In the middle of a rip current?” 

“Yeah, like I purposely swam into a rip current,” she said, sarcasm dripping from every word. 

“I’m glad you’re okay. But next time you want to cool down maybe take a buddy with you.” 

“Is that your way of flirting with me?” Y/N asked, raising her eyebrows at Calum. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he smirked. “I better get back to my tower though before something else happens.” 

And with that Calum sauntered back to his tower where he tried to ignore Y/N and Tower 12 but often found his eyes glancing over to where she sat. Maybe this job really didn’t have any down sides after all.


End file.
